What Will New York Yankees Do At The Hot Corner In 2014?

By Adam Fischer

Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Reynolds has been a quality addition to the New York Yankees, who have needed players like him to fill holes in a squad that has had to be figuratively patched up all season, with injuries occurring at almost every position. Reynolds is, of course, an all or nothing hitter; that is, he basically either strikes out or hits a monster shot that outfielders don’t even bother tracking. Additionally, he was the perfect pickup for the Yankees, as they were struggling through a tough power outage in mid-August.

Reynolds will also be a free agent when the season is over, which is likely to be after the game against the Houston Astros on Sunday, unless some sort of baseball miracle occurs. The question is, should the Yanks consider re-signing Reynolds for the 2014 season? A big pro in Reynolds’ favor is that he has the ability to play both first and third base. That gives him the ability to spell Mark Teixeira in the field next year when he needs a half day.

What’s more intriguing is Alex Rodriguez’s situation. He might not play at all in 2014 because of his 211-game PED suspension appeal. Reynolds might actually have a shot at being the Yankees’ every day third baseman next year, which, putting it lightly, is not very sexy. The way the Yankees organization is going though, it is definitely not out of the box to think that way, because they want to cut down their payroll and Reynolds will be a cheap fix at third.

The Yanks could also consider Eduardo Nunez being their starter at the hot corner, but I expect him to be Derek Jeter’s backup at shortstop, especially because of his age and his need to have days off in the field like Tex will need. So, seeing Mark Reynolds at third base on opening day in seven months is not an outrageous prediction, just not one Yankees fans would like to hear.